Progression
by pyrrhicvictoly
Summary: Fifty glimpses into a slow get-together. Prompts from 1sentence.


**.of seasons.**

**40 - spring**  
It begins in April, a mere three months before his sixteenth birthday, when he's sucked into a miniature toilet-dwelling black hole, is nearly stoned to death, then nearly decapitated by an American football player, and finally saved by this man with oddly familiar brown eyes.

**02 - apples**  
The apples are purple in this world, which is strange, as are many other things, but at least there's the awesome knightly prince guy who's really nice to him.

**33 - rain**  
There's a thunderstorm at night, and from the dry safety of his room he spies a lone figure standing in the downpour, and he thinks that, even after all they've been through together, "There's a side of Conrad I don't know."

**20 - green**  
The weather is nice today, the gardens are in verdant bloom, and Yuuri sits with Conrad in the grass, just breathing in the scent of the moment.

**15 - flexible**  
He's wearing a silly grin on his face as he asks, "Say, Conrad, I know you have a busy schedule, but could you take some time off?"

**43 - summer**  
In late summer, as the winds still and the air sits hot and staid on their shoulders, Yuuri suddenly runs away to see Pochi's new brood - with Conrad as his accomplice, of course.

**35 - roses**  
Gunter faints when he finds a letter on his desk along with a bouquet of roses, because while the letter doesn't say that His Majesty has gone off to become a monk, it contains an unfortunate euphemism that says he's "taking Conrad", which, along with the flowers (from His Majesty? there's no tag), is a secret code for "I'm off to do improper things to Conrad that one must not speak of in polite company, so please congratulate me for losing my virginity upon my return."

**04 - bugs**  
The insect bites swell up ugly and red, seemingly placed in strategically hard to reach areas, so Yuuri has Conrad spread the ointment on his back as they sit by the campfire (but for some strange reason, Conrad shies away when he offers to return the favor).

**37 - snakes**  
Conrad pats his back in soothing motions and murmurs that the bite wasn't deadly, but then he shifts downward and begins to suck the poison out of the wound on Yuuri's calf, and although he can't pin down what it is, Yuuri's shivering isn't from disgust or fear.

**48 - welcome**  
When Yuuri sneaks back to the castle, he's greeted with a sobbing Gunter and giggling maids who sprinkle rose petals on his head, and when he learns the shocking truth, he immediately shouts, "I'm still a virgin!" which leads to months' worth of rumors about Lord Weller's inability to service the Maou.

**13 - fall**  
Where summer was for play, fall marks a return to duty; the Maou returns to his office and Lord Weller returns to his position as commander of the guard, though they sneak glances at each other and share secret smiles.

**38 - snow**  
At the first snowfall, Greta rushes outside to make a snowmaou, but when Yuuri says his snow-self looks lonely, they make a snow-Greta and a snow-Wolfram and a snow-Conrad; while Greta is making a kitten for snow-Gwendal, Yuuri puts baseball gloves on his snow-self and Conrad.

**49 - winter**  
The juncture of winter to spring is held by Valentine's Day and White Day, the first of which has Conrad casually giving Yuuri chocolates in the American fashion; the second of which has Yuuri nearly dying of embarrassment when he returns the gift in the Japanese fashion, thinking all the while that he'll have to explain some more cultural differences before Conrad does something even worse, like blatantly declaring his (platonic!) love for Yuuri in front of Yuuri's family and thus causing all sorts of misunderstandings.

* * *

**.of years.**

**10 - duty**  
It begins with a soldier's duty when, in service to his country and to his late friend Julia, Conrad delivers the soul of the new Maou and falls utterly in love with Yuuri's small hand wrapped around his finger.

**46 - war**  
Though he had only known her for a short time, when she passed away his grief was soul-deep; now that he has been given another chance to know that soul, he cannot even fathom how utterly destroyed he would be if he had to endure another loss.

**30 - peace**  
Perhaps it is but a shared delusion, but Yuuri's dream is his dream, and together they will bring peace to this world.

**16 - flying**  
Sometimes, when the ball is flying through the air between them, they feel connected by that invisible trajectory, and it's as if time sits still and all the endless pushing/pulling/giving/taking is solidified before them.

**17 - food**  
Yuuri is surprised when he starts to enjoy some of the foods that he had shied away from when he first arrived, but Conrad just chuckles and gently brushes stray crumbs from Yuuri's cheeks as he says that tastes change as one gets older.

**09 - drink**  
By Shin Makoku law, Yuuri is now old enough to drink, but Conrad thinks it should be illegal how his cheeks flush drunken pink in the dim glow of the tavern.

**32 - pretty**  
He asks himself time and again how this could happen and how he could allow himself to think this way, but finds no answers; one moment Yuuri was cute, and in the next, he was absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful.

**44 - taboo**  
What he feels for Yuuri is so wrong on so many levels because of their difference in age (he can't feel this way) and in status (he shouldn't feel this way), but none of his vehement protestations (he's not allowed to feel this way) can persuade his foolish heart.

**45 - ugly**  
Conrad has come to realize that he is ugly on the inside, not only for the hidden darkness in his heart, but for his desire to have Yuuri in every way.

**23 - honor**  
He could wait until Yuuri is older to make a move, but he has been waiting, and the years have brought him so much happiness; now the honorable course of action would be to give up, so that is what he does.

**01 - air**  
The air rasps in and out of his lungs as Conrad forces himself to let go of those dreams; he breathes in (one, two) and out (one, two), puts the smiling mask back on, and is nothing more than a bodyguard and friend.

**11 - earth**  
He wonders how Yuuri will cope with leading a double life; he wonders if Yuuri will go to University and get married and get a job on Earth, and he wonders if there will be a place for him in that kind of future.

**29 - old**  
He wonders if, when they are old, he can continue to serve His Majesty.

* * *

**.of chords.**

**41 - stable**  
It begins when Shin Makoku stabilizes to the point where Yuuri is able to regularly steal away some of his companions (which turns out to almost always include Conrad) when he comes back to Earth.

**27 - metal**  
Sometimes Conrad just hangs out with him in his room, chatting about baseball and movies, and other times they play Guitar Hero in the living room where Conrad develops insane riffing skills and a love of classic metal.

**42 - strange**  
He thinks Conrad should try that on a real guitar because it looks seriously dorky to have Mr. Perfect jamming away on a colorful piece of plastic (though Conrad says he's _fret_ful about trying a real instrument), and it's even worse when he's simultaneously making bad puns (Conrad, you don't have to worry about being a bully for _picking_ on the guitar...), to the point where Yuuri can't help but wonder if Conrad is purposely trying to ruin his knight-in-shining-armor image.

**39 - solid**  
It's ironic that it takes Guitar Hero for Yuuri to finally, once and for all, stop seeing Conrad as his hero; in place of that phantom ideal is his puntastically annoying friend who is much better than perfection... and who just so happens to save his sorry ass quite often.

**05 - coffee**  
Yuuri grimaces when he discovers that Conrad likes the disgusting sludge known as black coffee, though somehow this makes him seem much more mysteriously adult.

**47 - water**  
Conrad likes to borrow Yuuri's rubber duck when he's taking a bath, which makes him lose all his slowly accumulated "mysterious adult points" in one go.

**28 - new**  
After the baseball game, while they're still grinning excitedly over the victory, Yuuri drags Conrad along to you'll-see-when-we-get-there, which turns out to be a music store where he insists on getting Conrad one of the shining instruments in the display case with the money he's saved up from his summer job (but Conrad objects, but Yuuri insists, but Conrad objects, but Yuuri ignores him and runs to get the sales clerk).

**18 - foot**  
There is something sensual about this scene that has Yuuri unable to look away: Conrad, cast in muted sunshine, barefoot, ratty jeans, white t-shirt, and his half-lidded eyes that speak of lazy Sunday morning comfort while his hands deftly strum a progression of chords.

**21 - head**  
The last thing Yuuri remembers is tentatively sneaking over, shyly sitting down next to Conrad to listen to him play, and then he's waking up to find his head in a warm lap, with Conrad's fingers softly carding through his hair and no recollection of how he got there.

**34 - regret**  
He regrets that it has come to these inappropriate stirrings in his body whenever he sees Conrad in this soft light; he regrets that there will be no more of these seductive casual mornings when they return to Shin Makoku; he is torn between conflicting desires (to keep this friendship or pursue love?) and greedily wonders if he can have both.

**12 - end**  
The trip comes to an end, but what he had seen during their blissful time together marks the start of some very uncomfortable introspection, of which Yuuri is sure will further complicate his life (but maybe it'll be worth it if he can feel that fluttery sensation again).

**36 - secret**  
It will be his one secret from Conrad that his heart beats an aching tempo of remembrance during the quiet moments before they jog around the castle.

* * *

**.of darkness to light.**

**07 - despair**  
It begins in despair, because even though Conrad has vowed to keep that inappropriate sort of love locked tightly away, Yuuri keeps reaching out for him and making everything so damn difficult.

**24 - hope**  
Yuuri smiles at him and it's a different sort of smile - one that gets him to start hoping again, and that's dangerous, it's not allowed, and it has to stop.

**22 - hollow**  
Conrad isn't stupid enough to think that he can feel complete without his most important person, but wanting to fill the hole up all the way would be asking too much, wouldn't it?

**19 - grave**  
He practices schooling his face into a somber expression; to the mirror he rehearses his lies: "I'm sorry, Yuuri, but I don't feel the same way."

**14 - fire**  
Yuuri doesn't take it well.

**26 - lost**  
Conrad was stupid enough to underestimate Yuuri's side of their bond, and now they are both lost, and it hurts, and it hurts to know that Yuuri hurts, and he curses himself over and over again for being so stupid.

**31 - poison**  
He hasn't looked at the package Jennifer gave him until now, so when he unwraps it and strokes the book's smooth cover, he finds himself thinking about their trip to Earth and how happy they had been, and when he reads the book, he silently thanks Jennifer for her support in the form of a fairytale about poison apples and knights daring to love outside their station.

**50 - wood**  
Splinters are digging into his palms and the creaky old bench is about to snap because he's gripping too hard; to the pond he practices his truths: "I love you so much that I want to- I _love_ you...so much that I'm afraid."

**06 - dark**  
His love is not of fire and roses, but rather of dark things, obscure things, and things unseen, unheard; of shadows, secrets, and the glowing promise in that soul.

**25 - light**  
Yuuri takes this well; he lights up in a way that he hasn't done for weeks.

**08 - doors**  
Their first kiss is chaste and desperate and perfect; Yuuri shoves Conrad against the door (lips pressing together, hearts pounding, hands clutching fabric) and braces their bodies against it, but just as he's beginning to wonder if things could be even more perfect if their lips were to part, the door snaps off its hinges and sends them sprawling and laughing and leaning in for a do-over.

* * *

**.it starts here.**

**03 - beginning**  
He tries to find the origins of his love, but in his heart there is only an inexorable flow down a path with no clear goal in sight; it starts with Yuuri's smile, then it starts again, and it starts again - they start again in their journey of infinite beginnings.


End file.
